DC votes to decriminalize hallucinogenic mushrooms by wide margin

Voters in Washington, D.C., moved by a wide margin to decriminalize the growing, possession and noncommercial distribution of hallucinogenic mushrooms on Tuesday.

More than 76 percent of voters supported Initiative 81 with just over 40 percent of precincts reporting, according to the district’s Board of Elections.

The ballot measure would direct D.C. Metropolitan Police to shift the “non-commercial planting, cultivating, purchasing, transporting, distributing, possessing, and/or engaging in practices with entheogenic plants and fungi” to among its lowest law enforcement priorities.

The District’s attorney general and the U.S. attorney for the District are also called upon as part of the measure to cease prosecution of those listed activities.

Tuesday’s measure in D.C. was one of several drug-related voter initiatives on the ballot around the country as part of Tuesday’s elections.

In New Jersey, voters moved to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, while similar measures to legalize recreational or medical marijuana were also on the ballot in Montana, Arizona, South Dakota and Mississippi.

Voters in Oregon are also considering a ballot measure that would decriminalize the possession of some hard drugs including heroin, cocaine and LSD.